What shape is this?

May 222008

Shape? Currently my Broadband Connection from Telstra is ‘shaped’ to 64 kp/s down from 4.5Mb/s… this is *slow*. Using the net for the next few days is going to resemble jogging through treacle – Working hard and getting nowhere!!!

I’m quite seriously re-considering asking the wife if I can sign up to Virgin Mobile Broadband which gives you a 5 Gb allowance for $40/month. At the least I could then take the laptop to the library with me (as per plan to help me lose weight) and continue to work from there.

I’ll have a mutter in her ear tonight and see what she thinks. Shouldn’t that be *hear* what she thinks? Nope… I can’t hear *or* see how she thinks. I might just hear her opinion tho… gawd… shutup Chris.

Anyway, for now my connection is dire at best… useless at worst. Plan renewal date is 25th… the waiting will be hard.

Drip, drip, drip, drip…

Crime & Punishment, Government, Gripes No Responses »

May 222008

That ‘dripping’ is the sound of the steady erosion of privacy and individual freedom as the UK descends still further into the realms of Big Brother and the advent of the Police State.

Bizarrely, to me at least, it’s a Labour government that is currently creating a Data Communications Bill to be presented as part of the Queen’s Speech come November.

In practice the government will oversee a massive database that will examine and store *all* SMS and email messages sent in, from, through the UK each year. The stats reported are that around 3 billion emails are sent each day and around 60 billion text messages set per year.

Yet again, as with the ID cards scheme, the emphasis is on the prevention of terrorism and maintenance of public order. On the surface this is all well and good, and a perfect justification for such a massive incursion into a citizens private life, well it might be when a benevolent government is on power, but what happens if the databases are put to the wrong use? Who will protect civil liberties if all the rights to those liberties, so hard fought for and won, have been silently destroyed in the name of expediency?

The old adage “An Englishman’s home is his castle” is becoming a hollow joke.

It’s bad enough that there is already a requirement for companies to hold on to the records themselves for twelve months. To have to pass them on to the ‘government’ is going too far by a long way.

The UK is drifting slowly into a Big Brother scenario day by day and personal freedoms are being eroded one drip at a time….

… drip, drip, drip.

Yet more cause for concern.

Health No Responses »

May 222008

This blog is becoming a locus for doom and gloom lately!

Today’s warning is that the effectiveness of nanotechnology use may in future be mitigated by its propensity to damage our health. New research is beginning to identify links between the tiny creations and serious illnesses such as mesothelioma! The suggestion that we are building up a potentially lethal arsenal of weapons in the guise of essential technology is of course anathema to both scientists and industry alike, yet the cause for concern remains.

nanotubes Of course we all want those futuristic products like lightweight but strong baseball bats (?) but because of their ability to control the passage of heat etc, these fibres are finding their way into products such as sun creams!

As with all these products used responsibly and in the correct way there should be little problems. Yet the question is being asked just what *is* the ‘right way’! In objects such as tennis racquets and the like we can assume the only people in real danger are those who are in some way part of the manufacturing process and so could expect to be safeguarded by legislation. But if these things are included in suntan lotion then how do we know they aren’t, for example, being absorbed thru the skin? They are after all incredibly tiny particles and can penetrate cell walls with little hindrance!

Bizarrely it seems little real research has been carried out on nanotubes to establish exactly what bio-hazards they pose. To help over come this, a small study will soon be held in Australia using volunteer lifeguards to test whether the particles in sun creams *do* in fact pose a credible threat. Until I hear the results I think I am going to be *very* careful which sun-creams I buy!! If they appear ‘clear’ on the skin for example… they can stay on the shelf!

More rubbish about rubbish.

Gripes, Society No Responses »

May 222008

Despite my complaints about UK rag, The Daily Mail in the last post, I *did* read several of the stories. One that caught my eye was yet another story about the bizarre garbage collection laws currently being enforced in draconian style by kerbside Nazis.

In this particular case a 22 year old woman has been fined £265 for putting her bins out a day early. She no doubt now has a criminal record that she will have to declare when she applies for a job or passport etc and could well be counted against her in many areas of her life.

The sheer idiocy of these regulations is highlighted by a case in which a 73 year old man has found that his garden waste bins will no longer be emptied because he put cabbage stalks in his. The local Nazis decided these counted as ‘kitchen waste’ and not ‘garden waste’. I wonder how they determined that the stalks hadn’t come from his garden?? Actually this is similar to yet another case the article reports where the bins of a partially sighted 95 year old man were deemed unsuitable for collection because he’d accidentally put a ketchup bottle and empty coffee jar in the wrong bin. What a compassionate country the UK has become when they are comfortable to turn on old soldiers for something so trivial?

Whilst I understand the concerns about yobbo’s setting the bins alight, and the need to make sure ‘recycling’ can be carried out efficiently the imposition of these laws and fines is reducing the country to a laughing stock around the world.

Surely someone somewhere can rein in the insanity? Perhaps the old “Keep Britain Tidy” campaign could be resurrected?? Anything would be better than this ongoing idiocy.

In the meantime of course, young Zoe Watmough has to find money she hasn’t got, to pay Bolton Council a fine that should never have been imposed.

On the media’s tale.

Gripes No Responses »

May 222008

I’ve been perusing the UK papers again and have spent a while looking through The Daily Mail which I’m sure I remember as a right wing, but basically even handed paper with some good editorial comment. The online version seems to either belie this memory, or the social situation in the UK has deteriorated to the extent there *is* no ‘good news’ for them to print!

The front page today (22nd May 2008) has the following headlines: Violence between Man. U and Chelsea football fans, child starved to death, husband dies on doorstep, and… well there’s just a multitude of stories of death, degradation and misery.

Surely there is more to the human condition in the UK than this? Maybe there’s a segment of the population that thrives on reading about the worst things people do to each other.

Maybe it reinforces those stereotypes that enable them to think everyone with a leather jacket is out to rob them, if two kids walk down the street then they are a gang and out to cause trouble, that anyone other than a ‘white anglo-saxon protestant’ must be an immigrant living off the dole etc.

Maybe? I’d love to see the research breakdown regarding their target audience and how well the paper meets the requirements. Now *that* would make fascinating reading… more so than the paper itself perhaps.

Joan Jackson who she??

Society 2 Responses »

May 212008

Until a few minutes ago I hadn’t heard of Joan Jackson who died aged 92 on April 11th. At least I *thought* I hadn’t, yet after reading the story that went along with the headline that attracted me, I soon learned I was mistaken! Joan Jackson was in fact *the* Joan Hunter Dunn made immortal by John Betjeman in his poem “A Subaltern’s Love-Song”, i.e.

Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn,
Furnish’d and burnish’d by Aldershot sun,
What strenuous singles we played after tea,
We in the tournament – you against me!

Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy,
The speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy,
With carefullest carelessness, gaily you won,
I am weak from your loveliness, Joan Hunter Dunn.

Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn,
How mad I am, sad I am, glad that you won,
The warm-handled racket is back in its press,
But my shock-headed victor, she loves me no less.

Her father’s euonymus shines as we walk,
And swing past the summer-house, buried in talk,
And cool the verandah that welcomes us in
To the six-o’clock news and a lime-juice and gin.

The scent of the conifers, sound of the bath,
The view from my bedroom of moss-dappled path,
As I struggle with double-end evening tie,
For we dance at the Golf Club, my victor and I.

On the floor of her bedroom lie blazer and shorts,
And the cream-coloured walls are be-trophied with sports,
And westering, questioning settles the sun,
On your low-leaded window, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.

The Hillman is waiting, the light’s in the hall,
The pictures of Egypt are bright on the wall,
My sweet, I am standing beside the oak stair
And there on the landing’s the light on your hair.

By roads “not adopted”, by woodlanded ways,
She drove to the club in the late summer haze,
Into nine-o’clock Camberley, heavy with bells
And mushroomy, pine-woody, evergreen smells.

Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn,
I can hear from the car park the dance has begun,
Oh! Surrey twilight! importunate band!
Oh! strongly adorable tennis-girl’s hand!

Around us are Rovers and Austins afar,
Above us the intimate roof of the car,
And here on my right is the girl of my choice,
With the tilt of her nose and the chime of her voice.

And the scent of her wrap, and the words never said,
And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead.
We sat in the car park till twenty to one
And now I’m engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.

Joan Hunter Dunn This was such a pleasant poem and Joan seemed to be such a pleasant girl as well. I wouldn’t say her life progressed as perfectly as it could have, bearing in mind her background but I dare say it went a lot better than many, and she did live to a ripe old age!

Her friendship with Sir John raised a few eyebrows when it continued long after she became widowed, yet she always laughed it off saying he was married and she still loved her husband. She seems to have been well liked and respected for herself and not simply as “Betjeman’s Muse”. What more could one ask out of life?

Not more mice?

Health, Home and Hearth 4 Responses »

May 212008

I’m beginning to wonder if we do in fact have more mice in here than the one the cat (re) captured and killed the other day. Now and then she hangs about around the kitchen staring underneath the fridge which is usually a sign of something… though we’re yet to discover what.

Today she again wandered around yowling which I have only *now* begun to realise is associated with her feeling pleased with herself and sure enough… hanging out of her maw was yet another mouse – this time already clearly deceased.

She is able to carry them indoors because I’ve been leaving the back screen door open. It’s really beautiful weather this time of year, not ‘hot’ but a relatively balmy 19ºC and sunny and I like to ‘air’ the house whenever possible – you can get sick of too much life under air conditioning. This means she is free to meander in, out, and around at will.

Point being that if as before she carries in a live mouse and releases it, it wouldn’t be spotted by me and would probably be ignored by her since she isn’t catching mice from hunger.

So do we have mice indoors? Well I can’t really tell. I’ve been cleaning around the cupboards and counter tops but so far there have been no signs of mouse droppings (which other than chewed clothes or produce boxes is the only way to tell short of actually catching one! ).

I’ll be keeping a close eye out now just in case. It’s bad enough the cockroaches think they deserve a home for the winter without an influx of mice to keep them company! We can spray for roaches and kill of any that manage the incursion, it’s not so easy to control mice… especially not when the cat helps them through the defences!!

Chubby buns?

Entertainment 3 Responses »

May 212008

The UK papers were awash a few days ago with the stirring words of the Duchess of York, a.k.a. Fergie as she defended the honour of her daughter the Princess Beatrice a.k.a. ‘chubby buns’ who is getting a lot of flak (she says) because of her size and shape, i.e. errr… cuddly (?).

Princess Well you’d have to admit that there *is* quite a lot of chubby buns to go round. I have no idea if she *does* go round and that’s none of my business. Well actually I suppose her size and shape is none of my business either really, but I do tend to comment on the way the press reports various ‘issues’, especially when they have created the ‘issues’ themselves.

This is one of those.

To begin with what the hell are they doing publishing a picture of a 19 year old girl who in most ways is just an ordinary citizen. There is virtually zero chance of her ever approaching the throne as a candidate for Queen and her only claim to fame is through the family of her father and her mothers propensity for having her toes sucked… and ensuring she remains in the media spotlight… of which we say nothing.

Well ok we must say something, especially when this woman was chosen to explain to a desperately poor family how to manage on a food budget of £80 a week? I’m not sure Fergie is even aware exactly what ‘poor people’ eat. And while it’s all very well to complain about the publicity her girls get, you have to remember that she pushed them out into the limelight herself. How much did we hear about Princess Anne’s kids as they grew? Very little.

Anyway… back to the point… I see very little ‘news’ value in the story whatsoever and I think it’s just an excuse to fill column inches on a day when there is little or nothing else of note to comment on.

After all who would be interested in the conflict in Darfur, or murders in South Africa, famine in Uganda, cyclones in Burma, or earthquakes in China?? Nobody I’ll bet. Females, males, young or old are all being told that the fact this female is generously proportioned is more newsworthy than all else. Really? I think not.

Ok she is being protected by security paid for by the UK taxpayer, but really… is it necessary for her to be inflicted on us? She’s of even less interest that Peaches Geldorf and that’s saying something!!

Personally I’d have thought government plans to store and vet *all* emails and internet traffic was *far* more sinister and worthy of comment… but what do I know?

The country is going to the dogs.

Save Steve’s Place!!!

Environment 9 Responses »

May 212008

Please sign the Save Steve’s Place petition and stop the miners wrecking this wildlife preserve!!

If we can do it we need to act now… every vote counts. Please send this to all your friends asap!!!

Vege Chips.

Food 4 Responses »

May 212008

We’ve got a product here called Vege Chips. I assume the same or similar products are on sale around the world and all would be carrying the same implications of ‘health’ and ‘wellbeing’ resulting from eating them.

The selling points on the pack are that these things are Gluten Free, and contain 40% less fat than regular chips (crisps). However they are also far more complex than your average ‘chip/crisp’.

Looking at the back of the Vege Chips packet you see the ingredients listed as Cassava, Tapioca flour and starch, Sunflower Oil, Sesame Seeds, Vegetables (Chinese Cabbage, Garlic, Shallot Leaves), Cane Sugar, Sea Salt, Natural Herbs, Spices and Spice extracts, Dextrose (made from Tapioca), Food Acid (330).

On the back of the potato chips packet you see listed as ingredients, potatoes, vegetable, salt.

Potato chips/crisps are sliced, cooked in oil and sprinkled with salt. That’s it. Bearing in mind the processing that the ingredients in the Vege Chips have to undergo before they are firm enough to retain their shape, which one is really the healthier option?

Is it worth it for a reduction in oil and fat levels? I don’t know. The Vege Chips contain far less saturated fats it’s true but the percentages are a little less than accurate as the packet of potato chips shows a total of 32% fats (total) where the Vege Chips shows 20% (total).

Basically it seems ‘yer pays yer money and takes yer choice’. Best bet might be to just eat neither!!

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